EUGENE, Ore. — There are continued signs of an improving economy. A new dessert cafe opened up shop in downtown Eugene.

Meet Larry Oswald, as in Larry’s Cupcakes and Cafe on West Park Street in Eugene. His shop serves coffee and, like the name says, cupcakes.

Right out of the oven you’ll notice they aren’t traditional cupcakes.

“Like I said, it’s a surprise. Proprietary information and forms the basis of what we call surprise cupcake,” Oswald said.

It starts at the assembly line, then add the frosting and a caramel swirl. But wait, there’s more–a pinch of salt to marry the flavors. This makes the salted caramel swirl, one of many surprise cupcakes.

“We have almost 40, and on any given day we have total over 50 flavors, including gluten free and vegan,” Oswald said.

There are also miniature cupcakes and duck cupcakes.

Larry and his wife, Lisa, have been baking together for 20 years. It started with his wife and her business in Iowa.

“She says, ‘You got to help me.’ And at that moment I became a baker,” Oswald said.

The pair later moved to Ashland and opened up Yummy Cake.

“Then it morphed into Larry’s Cakes, and when we came here it became Larry’s Cupcake Cafe,” Oswald said.

Now they’re offering downtown Eugene a dessert cafe and what no other bakery here offers–the largest selection of surprise cupcakes enough to satisfy any palette.